Saturday, September 27, 2014

Weekend Wrap-Up: New Hair Down and Up; Vintage Expo Shopping and a Casual Brunch

I have big plans for Sunday: my big closet changeover! So I won't be posting an outfit tomorrow, so here's my weekend recap before we are even close to ending the weekend. the closet clean-out post will come at a later date - I have some plans fermenting in the ol' grey matter.

Let's cast our minds all the way back to Thursday!

It is still warm here, but the weather is vacillating from grey and overcast to rainy to sunny. Typical autumn in Victoria!

But I know y'all want to see the shaved head, right?

My first stab at styling it - eh, I'll give it a C+. I had a few askance looks from coworkers, but this haircut is more about the attitude than the hair. I had a better styling on Friday, which we'll get to shortly.

Clothes! This outfit features two new-to-me items that were purchased during the spring/summer that were destined to be in my fall wardrobe: the jacket and the skirt.

I loved wearing this jacket all day - since it was warm, I wore it as my coat and didn't take it off. Double duty! I bought it here (way down at the bottom) in June at My Sister's Closet for $42.98. It's by Danier (yes, Danier Leather). It's not leather; it's a lovely thick brocade with raised velvet areas where the leaves are. It matched my shoes so well!

The blouse underneath was last seen here in August with my striped pants.

The skirt is new-to-me (purchased here, way down at the bottom, in August). It's by Edging by InWear and was thrifted for $25.00.

I am a sucker for this long jacket look.

The jacket done up - it's got pockets!

Hee, and don't my shiny pink runners and magenta socks go well?

The stuff:

And didn't I just say in Shoe Shine #11 that I'd be wearing these soon? I last wore these here in May with a jacket I gave away off my back.

Shiny bling:

Did you notice the pin on the collar of the jacket? It went so well - and I love that I have matching earrings purchased far apart timewise from each other.

I had and after-work social happy hour with some coworkers, and got home late. Sheila tired!

I warned everyone at work on Thursday to be prepared for "Weekend Hair" on Friday.

Elaine, Cat and Yvonne and I all went to the Victoria Vintage Expo at the Crystal Gardens (go here for last year's visit and vintage haul). I wore all primary colours again!

You can also see my haircut better. My right side is basically shaved right off, with the left side longer. We also took some of the thickness out of the top so that it stands up in the "pomp" better. I had way more positive reactions to this styling effort, and briefly considered doing my hair fancy-shmancy like this on a daily basis...but then my fun hair would be work hair. I like the separation of work and non-work in my hair style.

I'm wearing a mix of eras, which to me, is the best way to get a vintage vibe without looking like you're wearing a costume. My items range from the 1950s to present, with stops in the '60s, '80s and modern 20-teens.

I love this blue and white polka dot blouse! It's a pain to wear, however, as the buttons don't like to stay done up. I ended up safety-pinning it strategically which worked well. I suppose I could sew snap-fasteners on it or stitch most of it up altogether (I can pull it over my head with the top button undone), but that would mean overcoming my extreme laziness when it comes to these sorts of things. So safety pins it is. I last wore it here in August with more yellow.

This skirt is a firm favourite, but it's getting packed away tomorrow - it's very lightweight wool, and the bright colour is much more warm-weather appropriate. I last wore it here in July with black beaded wool.

Adding layers to the outfit...with a hat! I bought this hat at a vintage fair some months ago for $18.50 (here in June), and have been waiting to wear it. I built the outfit around the hat, of course. It fit perfectly over my hair, too, and stays put without an elastic or clips.

I liked the bright pop of red with the bright yellow and rich blue.

La-di-dah, I'm a lady. I enjoyed putting the hat on for my coworkers (I stashed it on my desk during the day), and doffing it to show the vintage expo attendees and vendors.

I met up with Cat and Elaine right after work, and Yvonne joined us later. We shopped and mingled until 7:30 and then went for dinner together. Wine!

You can check out all the great photos here from the Expo - hello to the lovely ladies in the photo booth! You can spot me pretty easily in the pictures if you scroll down at that link, and here's a fabulous picture of Elaine (left) and Cat (right).

I love doing the matchy-matchy, I admit. This is my entry for "Hat Attack!" over at Judith's Style Crone!

Well, if I'm going to do red shoes, then I have to do a red coat!

I've had this wool coat since the late 80s, when I bought it in a now-defunct vintage store downtown. I was pretty poor then, so I wouldn't have paid more than $25 for it. I don't usually like the swing coat style on me, but this coat is amazing. It was the perfect topper for the outfit.

My purse is totally modern, but I liked the 50s-era futuristic vibe it gave the outfit. It didn't hold a lot but it matched!

The stuff:

The shoes were wonderfully comfy to wear all day, but by the end of our shopping I was so happy to take them off! That was a very long day! I last wore them here in July with mad plaid.

Did I get anything? Well, duh! My first great spots were two velvet jackets, which I got for $75.00 for both items. I had to get this vintage 60s smoking jacket for L - and he loved it!

It's black velvet with wool lapels, and it's a psychedelic mix of red and purple.

You can see the colours better here:

Made in Calgary, Alberta by Sir Men's Wear Ltd. I couldn't find out anything about them online, but I like little details like this vintage union label for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America - that union merged in 1976 (wiki), so this jacket is pre-1976.

Although it says "Special Order", I don't think it was made for anyone specifically; usually the gentleman's name will be typed onto the label (L has several other jackets that have been personalized that way).

Made in Canada!

Note the lush ruby red satin lining. The original price on this was $50.00.

Then I spotted this amazing deep green silk velvet ladies' jacket:

I've blown out the colour a bit as it photographs nearly black.

A better look at the colour:

Silk velvet is the best. Y'all know that velvet is a weave, not a fabric, right? Things like silk, cotton and wool are the fabrics, and things like velour and velvet and corduroy are weaves. So velvet comes in all kinds of fabrics - usually polyester or cotton - and in vintage clothing, it's often made of silk. Silk velvets are much drapier than stiff cotton velvets, but the nap (surface) tends to get crushed.

This jacket is handmade. I checked all of the seams and it's gorgeously sewn, much of it by hand.

By bundling my two purchases, I saved $10. Most vintage vendors are willing to dicker a little on prices.

My favourite local thrift store, Women in Need (WIN), sets aside many of their really nice donations for events like this. I found this on the sale rack at their booth:

It's a long jacket with bracelet-length sleeves (cut just above the wrist). I love this sleeve length for showing off bracelets/rings. You know I'm all about the accessories.

I love the paint-y pattern of the fabric. All the black parts are flocked velvet! Such a cool texture!

Can you see the sparkly buttons? They are a sparkly plastic.

Lovely peach lining!

And a nice detail like a snap-fastener on the neck so that it lays properly when worn.

With the discount, this ended up being $35.00.

I would agree with 1950s/60s. This jacket is also handmade. Most of the lining is entirely hand-sewn. It's a huge amount of work!

Despite all of us vowing not to buy more hats (it's an addiction!), Elaine, Cat and I all bought at least one hat. This was my find.

Squee! Curly taupe feathers on dark green? Yes, please!

A better shot of the colours.

The hat sits forward over one eye, with the elastic holding it in place around the head.

I love vintage hat labels.

I didn't get a single hit for "Mae Marie Hats" of Cleveland. I would guess that this is from the late 50s/early 60s.

The stall that I purchased it from was Jayda Hats and it was FULL of wondrous and amazing hats. I asked a young girl working in the booth where all the hats had come from. "They're Gran's collection," she said, pointing at an elderly lady helping another customer. I love that history! When I am a much older chick, I would like to sell off all my good stuff like that. I like seeing my things going to a good home.

Now, can you guess what this is?

Nope, not a purse, not a stole/wrap. It is real fur, though (although I don't know what kind), one that's been sheared. It is incredibly soft.

It's a muff!

Or as the tag so non-romantically calls it, a hand-warmer. This was marked at $28.00, but I offered and paid $25.00 for it. The woven cord loop with tassel are for hanging it from your wrist when it's not in use.

It's completely handmade and is in excellent condition. The edges are where you put your hands, where they go into a snuggly cave of dark brown silk velvet. The ends are trimmed in thick black grosgrain ribbon fabric.

I think this is old, possibly from the '30s or '40s. I'm looking forward to using this in the winter with my dressy wear!

These shiny silver opera-length gloves called to me. I had to go back to the booth for them after having pangs of remorse over not buying them on my first pass-through. You snooze, you lose at these events!

Pretty freakin' fabulous gloves. They were $25.00 and I don't regret a penny.

By Dents, made in Malta (!).

Dents is a UK maker of gloves. I'd say these are from the '60s, based on the buttons at the wrists. More modern gloves have spandex and no buttons.

And I am a size 7 1/2 in gloves, apparently.

One of the more expensive items was one of the smallest: this little bronze pinky ring.

Cosima was a lovely lady (link, 'cause I love) with a huge love for vintage Scandinavian jewelry. This ring was $40.00 and is by Pentti Sarpeneva of Finland, probably from around 1790. She noted that this was "dead stock" (i.e. never sold), so has never been worn.

I love when vendors do a nice wrapping presentation.

And there's the stamp. Nice.

I like the look of it stacked with my other pinky rings.

It's a smidge big on my finger, so the other rings hold it in place.

These fabulous '60s clip ons are a bright orange.

They photographed more coral there, but they match my orange Fluevogs really well. They were $10.00.

Hard to see, but they are stamped "Japan" on the clip.

My last find was just as we were leaving - I moved a tray of rings and voila! My beloved copper was revealed.

I love the sleek designs on these, especially the "wrap-around" ring. These were only $4.00 each!

This morning, I woke up slightly hungover, as we continued to a lounge for cocktails after dinner. That Manhattan was probably a bad decision, but it was so good!

An easy dress and shoes for Ulty. We probably don't have many games left in our season (we stop playing when we don't get enough people for 3 weeks straight).

I last wore this lovely light viscose dress here in June to the field for another Ultimate game.

So many dresses, so little time to wear them all!

It is a gorgeous sunny day, and I'm looking forward to chilling tonight with L and Vizzini.

I wore a red vintage slip underneath this. The shoes are Born, last worn here (4th outfit) with bees and a black gauzy skirt earlier this month.

Dress (Amanda Laird Cherry, thrifted), shoes (Born, consignment).

As the acorns are starting to drop from the Garry oak trees around our condo, Vizzini has been ever-vigilant on maintaining his watch.

Too right in your decision to keep a firm separation between work hair and fun hair. Love that fun cut and colour! Too many great things pictured here. What stands out now I don't see them is the outfit you wore to vintage shop, your finds, the velvet jacket in green, the hat with a feather squall, and L's luxurious smoking jacket. Vizzini, such a cool cat.

OMG. I luurvve it all - the hair, the brocade jacket, the hat with the feathers, good old L who will totally RULE that jacket - Doc was adventurous and wore a Jimi Hendrix T shirt I got him today, but he would not do that awesome jacket. I love a chill weekend with lots of shopping and kicking it. By the way, the Manhattan (up, 2 cherries) is my favorite drink. Such a cool post!!!

Love the polka dots blouse with the yellow skirt - you could always stitch the buttonholes up a little tighter, then the buttons won't pop out, and it would be less work that sewing on press studs. Nice finds, love the coat, velvet jacket, the ring, and gloves. I was surprised at first to see those Dents gloves were made in Malta, but then Malta was part of the British empire, and didn't become independent till the 1960s. xxx

Oh yet another great set of vintage finds.Whenever I see vintage labels, specially union ones, I think of you - because I learned to look for them fem you. I really like that flowery dress you're wearing...

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